100% agree, I think the fact that there is no consistent pugging plattform is damaging and already has damaged the eu scene considerably. There is just no way for new players to actually grind the game outside of scrims/offis anymore. The lack of new top level players will become very apparent in like 2-3 years when the core of prem will be 25 or older. Everytime pugging is actually a thing for a longer period of time new players come up, for example look at winter 2024/2025 when pugs were running every day and andiduude got really good. So I think this should be a big priority if the eu scene wants to survive, keep prem at a high level of play and not just play tf2center with no comms till the end of tf2.

Maybe I am wrong, but I think the main and biggest problem of protfx is that nobody knows about it. I think if this problem is to be fixed, then etf2l has to release its own pugging service and heavily advertise it on the website. Maybe introduce a 2 tier pugging system with an open captain (every level) and closed no captain queue (open-low), in order to get lower level players started. Etf2l as an org in general also has more power, so people who are extremely toxic (eventhough I think this wasn't a big problem in pugs for 1-2 years now) can be banned from pugs and etf2l at once, giving bans more weight and hopefully resulting in a more civilized experience, especially for lower skilled players.

In our last discussion with the admins, I was one of the strongest advocates for not having a summer season going forward. I still believe this is the best approach, since summer seasons tend to be shit due to alot of players going on holidays and there not being a major Lan like Insomnia anymore. I, however also thought that there would be at least 1-2 6s cups organized in cooperation with EssentialsTF or other orgs. For example (as Yak already pointed out), a 1-2 week long lan qualifier cup would've been great. Even a paid entry cup could work fine imo, if there are funds missing on the org side.

Overall, I believe the EU comp scene would benefit from having just two main seasons (spring and autumn) while focusing more on cups during the summer. However, it's crucial for the admins and orgs to really try and have direct and consistent communication to make this happen...

our offi will be postponed to next week

https://youtu.be/zvB3YCEDZS8

Recovered this a while ago from my old pc, sorry for no game sounds!

What? Imo even snake was a very interesting game, because froyo had some interesting attempts in breaking the stalemates and eventhough the execution failed multiple times I still find it interesting how froyo tries to tackles this kind of playstyle in General. I can't even count the times i've watched the insomnia i63 froyo vs se7en Games, just because how interesting the NA vs EU playstyle is.

So yeah I think this kind of playstyle will always be a part of tf2, but imo its only lame for the spectator if both teams just sit and do nothing, which was not the case. Its also not like froyo only went sniper vs these holds (which is the lamest strat to watch imo). The only thing we can do to disincentivize this playstyle is to ban the banner(s), because banning pyro or replacing/fixing granary, snakewater, sunshine seems unreasonable or not doable. I'm still very interested to see if banners will now be used more in NA and how they tackle this ingame.

This GF was far from optimal viewer wise, but also definitely not 'some of the worst gameplay' that there could've been. Also I don't think this prevented the game from 'growing' cause as stated in comments above, wG's playstyle was far from optimal even to an untrained eye.

I actually think that badlands (especially the "Australian" version without a closed off ring on last and a 2 second cap time) has a very interesting flow. In my opinion the reason why its not played is because it is not a good pug map, as pushing out of last with an uncoordinated team is really aids.
Another factor is that contrary to something like process, the positioning for most classes/roles is not very intuitive, thus making it not easy to pick up for newer players.

I'm pretty sure the map would be fun to try out in a league setting. Even the 1 second cap standard version would be interesting to try out now that the quickie bomber is banned.

Also banning pyro would probably fix this map and make last stalemates way less aids, but this can be probably said about every small last :P.

Please keep either Metal or Gran in! I don't think its very beneficial to switch out 2 maps which have an unique flow and interesting class imbalances for another scout centered map like reckoner...
I get if we want to have two koth maps in order to add more importance to this gamemode, but pls only removing one of these maps for one new map!

Also would be very cool if etf2l could release the data from the survey they took, I'd be really interested on what they base their decisions on when it comes to maps and unlocks :).

Hmh, I think the winger should also be banned... not directly a straight upgrade, but I still don't get why letting scouts have free highground in fights is beneficial. It's basically a straight upgrade 90% of the time, because better positioning in fights is often more important than the pistol dmg.
I'm pretty sure it being unlocked makes map creation/balancing harder aswell, since highground that can't be reached by the winger is more difficult to implement properly.

https://clips.twitch.tv/WittyArborealWrenKAPOW

All bait.. We got demo and soldier off of this ;D

thanks for reminding me junnu, nubbi and me forgot to do the whole propose/accept stuff ^^

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oiiztcehkx1hhm0/pugchamp_sunshine_02_12_2019.dem?dl=0

34000 - 5k
87000 - 5k, also killing med on 99

Pugchamp demo, might lag sry :/

Tbh I would rather have the pug killed than play a 5:0 on either side, so this is really not a downside imo.

Also, removing elo has not really reduced toxicity. Yes there is less toxic behaviour when loosing a game, but now (among other problems) there are more people who will just say "go next" and give up making the pug instantly cringe for anybody who wants to try, resulting in more toxic behaviour towards these individuals.

Sadly we are defaulting this match because we are missing 3 main players for a week.
Sorry :/

This match was moved to today :)